4 places to find recessed soap dishes and ceramic bathroom fixtures — including both vintage and new

Here is another source to check for recessed soap dishes: Deabath.com, which has maintains a rotating selection of both of New Old Stock and salvaged ceramic tile accessories on their website. Above: A Hall-Mack “Chinavogue” soap dish from 1958, still in its original box. Gosh, I want to get all gushy about how beautiful this is… Deabath.com — aka Bathroom Machineries — also has ceramic tile-in toothbrush holders, toilet paper roll holders and shelves… not only in white, but also in a catch-as-catch-can variety of vintage colors.

deabath even sells a tile with slot to dispose of used razor blades — so old skool!

Recessed soap dishes are a pretty popular topic. I now have a list of several places to find them, along with other recessed and tile-in ceramic accessories — including both vintage New Old Stock (NOS) and made-new:

Comments

What has worked for me is to use a lime-removing cleaner, like Lime-a-Way, and to scrape with a single-edge razor, and then scrub with a small stiff bristle brush with a handle, something like the one you would use to wash dishes with, and then polish with a cloth. Hold the razor almost parallel to the surface of the tile and make sure to always keep the surface wet to prevent scratches, and scrape in short strokes, almost like finessing the edge of a blade on a wetstone. You can carefully bend the razor to give it a bit of a curve to help around the curved edges. If it is really tight inside the soap dish, you can snip the blade in half.

It may take a couple of sessions to get it all–sometimes I soak a rag in the lime remover and let it sit for awhile if it is really bad. I have managed to rescue a number of fixtures others have thought hopeless without marring the finish like acid can. Once you get the hang of it, you can also very carefully remove lime build-up from chrome fixtures as well this way, (don’t let the cleaner sit too long or it will remove the finish!) and of course from wall tile, sinks, bathtubs, toilets and other hard surfaces.

I have very hard water and have to do this periodically. You know you got it all when the surface feels smooth, not rough to your fingers, and there isn’t a haze. It can be hard to tell until it dries. Just repeat until you are satisfied. At least you can do this at a table instead of perched on the edge of the tub!